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For Better or Worse, Race Likely to Play Major Role

The Wall Street Journal quotes Professor Richard Thompson Ford in a story about the role of race in the upcoming presidential election and how it might affect Barack Obama's campaign:

"Race will play to Obama's advantage as well as to his disadvantage," says Richard Thompson Ford, a Stanford Law School professor who writes about race and went to Harvard Law School with Sen. Obama. "Anyone in this campaign will, in some senses, need to tread carefully to avoid an implication that an attack on Obama is racially tinged."

This may be especially troublesome for Sen. McCain if he tries to bring up campaign issues with historic racial overtones like crime and affirmative action. "Many people would support a candidate other than Obama for reasons other than race," Mr. Ford says.